STUDENT’S BOOK - TRANSLATION 3

Reformulation Page 1
Translations have specifications to meet. When readers read a good translation, they wouldn’t say
anything. When they read a translation not as good as they expected, they say a lot, they ask a lot of
questions, they comment, they give suggestions, they criticize, etc. All of these make translators sit down
and work again on the language to make it better. Sometimes, they have to re-construct their translation
like re-construct a house so that it gives the dwellers the best feelings.
Working between two languages, most concerned by translators are the meaning of SL texts, formed by a
certain number of words, and above all, the ideas/messages that the writer wants to get across. Given that
SL grammar is not allowed to dominate the TL translation, translators are entitled to a liberty of using
translation techniques in order to faithfully reformulate those messages in TL.
A reformulation in TL allows translators to use following techniques:
• Addition: certain TL words/phrases are added to the translation without derailing or jeoparding
what the writer means;
• Omission: to omit translating certain SL words because the translation sounds cumbersome with
repetition, or clumsy to readers;
• Replacement: to replace the part-of-speech of a SL word by another in its TL equivalent (eg:
adjective -> noun, noun -> adverb, etc.)
• Transposition: the TL equivalent is placed in a position different from that of its original word in SL
order;
• Idiomatic expression: a SL word/phrase is replaced by an TL expression of same fuction and
meaning;
• Opposition: to rephrase the TL with an antonym without changing the meaning of the
phrase/sentence;
• Synonym: the exact TL denoted equivalent gives way to a word/phrase of similar meaning
• Contextual expression: a TL word/phrasal equivalent that fits well in the context though its SL is in
different form

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